Odds Blog: After the party…

Monday 25th June

We’ll start with a rewind to Tuesday 5th June…..

I had wondered why the queen had gifted us with a Tuesday bank holiday for the jubilee, but I’m glad that she did! We spent the day in bed – asleep! The hounds were glad to snooze the day away – they were very tired, even though they hadn’t had a very energetic holiday with their kind hosts!

Lou’s 2013 calendar photo – she is so photogenic – and so is Stoke Hammond lock.
Go on, get a calendar – it’s a great cause and it looks good!!

We took a week to recover from the jubilee – and we’re still sorting through all the photographs that we’ve received from fellow boaters. As we reminisce and describe the events to friends and acquaintances and total strangers, the whole scale of the event is coming into focus – in some ways it’s more real now than it was when I was on deck getting soaked and bowing to the Queen!

So we’re getting back to proper reality – one where we’re not having to read and action the twice-weekly jubilee briefings 🙂

Lou is responding very well to chemotherapy and we decided to try radiotherapy as well – we hope that this will totally kill the primary tumour in her throat to the point that it won’t recur there. However we must be realistic and accept that the lymphoma will come back somewhere, sometime and that will be the end of her. The radiotherapy is two courses of 5 day days, separated by a 7 – 10 day ‘rest’ period. She started her treatment on Monday 11th and had to spend a week in a specialist animal hospital in Essex – although she’s had a good week, she wasn’t very well when I picked her up last Friday – sadly a harbinger of things to come.

Of course, since I first started writing this post, Poppy has gone….

By Friday night Lou was better, in fact she was spectacularly well earlier this week, but on Wednesday night she suddenly started having trouble swallowing – this has become steadily worse and she is very miserable. The vets agree that it is probably inflammation of her throat/salivary glands – a delayed reaction to the radiotherapy. So, we’ve increased her dose of steroid tablets and she is on antibiotics to treat/prevent a secondary infection as her immune system is pretty low after all this treatment. She has had to miss this weekend’s chemotherapy we’re not sure whether she will be well enough to start the next course of radiotherapy on Monday. I am very worried about her, more worried than the vets, in fact, but I will admit to being tired and emotional after a difficult week.

We have been doing our own research into her condition and have found two very useful links, which I’ll publish here both for our own and other’s reference (though Lou’s form of cancer is typically very rare!):

http://www.bvsc.com.au/www/images/infosheets/radiation_therapy.pdf?token=82d18124b12d0f3deff6b0e7425bf73fd1a0288c

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1476-5829.2011.00270.x/full

The articles suggested rinsing her mouth with tea – aha, TEA, the sovereign specific, I’m surprised I hadn’t thought of it before – if it had been a human crisis the kettle would have been on in the first minute! She is quite liking the tea mouth rinses, so maybe there is something in it; she is also liking the home-made honey linctus, which the vet suggested might soothe her throat. I have also made some liver ice-cream (recipe below) – this has been a big hit but I can’t see it catching on at Haagen Das!! Lou was not making any effort to eat or drink (her throat must be very painful) so we’re having to make the effort to tempt her!

Our efforts have been rewarded – at long last she started to perk up today and our Vet was very impressed that Lou has not become dehydrated or lost weight – he has no idea of how hard we’ve worked to achieve that over the weekend 🙂

Looking after Lou has been very intense – not that she’s difficult to nurse, but the twice weekly (minimum) vet visits, the difficult decisions to be made regarding treatment and the attendant self-questioning and worry whether we’re doing the right thing, is very wearing. The intensive phase of Lou’s treatment has another month to run, then, hopefully, she’ll be in remission, the treatments won’t be so drastic and we can enjoy some quality time with her – my first ‘target’ is Lou’s 10th birthday on the 1st October; my fantasy target is summer 2013.

I’ll just remind you again that she is Miss July in Greyhoundhomer’s 2013 calendar (for the 5th year running – go Lou!). Follow this link to Greyhoundhomer and scroll down to buy one – go on, you know you want to, it’s worth £7 just for Lou’s photo – she is posing at the side of picturesque Stoke Hammond lock on the Grand Union!

Although Lou is in the wars with some side-effects now, generally she has tolerated the treatment remarkably well and  we must not lose sight of the longer-term goal – the radiologist is confident that, with treatment, she will have a long remission because her cancer is very unusual for a lymphoma, and very localised. Her treatment may buy a year or more in remission – now that would be an achievement.

To be honest, I’ll be glad not to have to cruise for a while and just be able to concentrate on Lou. Maybe for the first time ever, I’m not troubled by the rainfall and its effects on the flow of the Thames or by the impending London Olympic canal lock-down – there’s just too much going on at home….

Liver ice cream:

400g chicken livers, boiled then blended until smooth
Add 150 double cream and whip the mixture until it starts to thicken
Chill the mixture
When cold, transfer the mixture to an ice-cream maker and churn until frozen (took about 10 minutes in my machine)

If you don’t have an ice-cream maker then you can put the mixture into the freezer and stir it every hour or so (to break up any crystals) until it is frozen.

Boat Blog: Back to Limehouse….

Monday 4th June

Setting out along West India Dock – mooring this close to Canary Wharf was one of the great thrills of our Jubilee weekend…

The blog is going chronologically challenged for a little while as I catch up with pre- and post- jubilee events!

So, let’s rewind to Monday 4th – the day after the Jubilee – when we finished our cruising weekend with a great little trip from West India Dock to our home berth in Limehouse Marina via Bow Creek and Bow Locks.

We had a relaxed start to the day – it made a nice change to have a high tide at midday-ish so we didn’t have to get up at an unearthly hour. Sarah and Andy had stayed overnight, but left before we started the day’s cruise – they were suffering from acute greyhound withdrawal syndrome! This left us with a few hours of peace and quiet to pack up and clean the boat and generally sit around drinking coffee. It was a sociable time – the other narrowboaters were out and about, though the morning was marred somewhat when the lady of nb Hazell Nut had a nasty fall and had to be dashed off to hospital – get well soon!

Although it was a fine morning, I hastened to turn the heating on in the morning – I needed to dry the greyhound costume – its thick fur was still sodden – in fact, it was still quite wet some four hours later, despite the volcanic heat from the radiators!

It was great not to have to rush off, but we weren’t entirely free of deadlines – we needed to get onto the river just before high tide in order to have enough water to lock 15 boats off the river at Bow Locks. So at 11.30am we got the call to move and we left our moorings in sequence – formation narrowboating could become addictive! We headed for the lock, enjoying the sight of the remaining pageant boats. It was a fine morning – so unlike the rest of the weekend! It took a while to pack the lock – the lock-keepers were trying to get as many boats onto the river as they could.

I love this view – there’s so much to see….

Having had a 15 foot drop from the dock to the river yesterday, I was surprised to see the lock gates opening in front of us after we’d barely dropped 3 feet today! But if you’d missed the sight of the lock gates opening, you’d have known it by the movement of the boats. Our extended raft of around 50 boats had been perfectly still, but when the lock gates opened the restless river soon had us bobbing up and down in a most disconcerting fashion! The high tide was very high indeed and the river beyond the lock looked quite lively – I was very pleased that Richard had elected to go round to Bow Creek rather than taking the direct route to Limehouse via the Isle of Dogs – it can be very choppy around there even when the rest of the river is millpond calm.

The tide was so high that they had to lift the bridge in order for us to leave the lock. There were many spectators on the bridge, all enjoying the sight of the boats – they were enjoying it so much that a CRT lock/bridge keeper had to chase them off the bridge – they simply ignored the warning klaxons! This took some time, with us bobbing up and down (not for delicate constitutions), and wondering whether we’d catch the tide in time.

We’d assembled in no particular order in the lock – so we were at the front of the narrowboat raft with Arthur Dent and Barrogill – they elected for us to take the lead so we did! We’d had special dispensation to cruise down to Bow Creek on the wrong wide of the river – we were glad of this – the river is so wide here that it would have taken 10 – 15 minutes to cross the river to the correct (right hand downstream) side then we’d be crossing back into Bow Creek mouth almost immediately! I set off out of the lock and was struck by the tide – the river was high and restless – the tide was still rushing in so the tiller was heavy – as I’ve observed before, punching a strong tide is like steering through porridge. It was surprisingly difficult to get tight into the left bank (out of the way of traffic coming upriver) -the flow was immense round the bend that swaddles the O2 arena. Nonetheless, Indigo Dream has plenty of power, so we did make progress downstream – passing to starboard of a huge moored barge which proved to be the floating belfry – already looking sadly derelict after yesterday’s big event – I wonder what will happen to it now?

Steamer Portwey getting a helping nudge from one of her dimunitive neighbours! We’ve met Portwey before – she’s a fine looking boat…

The bright red lightship moored at Bow Creek Mouth is a great landmark so there was no chance of missing the turn! What a difference – now the tide was pushing us up Bow Creek – the tiller loosened and we were flying! Andrew Phasey later reported that the speed on this GPS had suddenly increase from 4 knots to something like 6 knots when he turned into the creek (with no change in throttle speed!).

We had a thoroughly enjoyable cruise up Bow Creek – it is such an interesting waterway and its meanders are a nice helming challenge, though we weren’t so worried about grounding on the mudbanks with today’s high tide!

Lock-keeper Lenny greeted us at Bow Locks, we settled in with nb Doris Katia – the river was so high we had to lock down to the canal – that hasn’t happened to us before! We cruised down Limehouse cut, enjoying its comfortable familiarity – there were still many pageant boats moored on the wall in Limehouse (some had locked out earlier for the Isle of Dogs transit). There was still a lingering sense of camaraderie as we waved and greeted each other – who knows when we’ll see some of the more far-flung boats again 😦

As we turned into our berth, nb Doris Katia turned towards Commercial Road lock – we bid them a sad farewell, though I’m sure we’ll be seeing the St Pancras crowd again soon! Much as we love boating, we didn’t envy them the slog back up to St Pancras – we were only too glad to moor up! The boat was nigh on ready for disembarkation, but it took us a while to get moving – we’d have gladly fallen into bed for the afternoon! But I had to go off to Ipswich to collect Lou, Poppy and Ollie while Richard had to swing by Rainham in Essex to collect Ty! It must have been gone 4pm by the time we went our separate ways. We finally congregated at home at 9pm, where we drank some celebratory bubbly with Denise, Wyn and Rhodri while we tried to capture in words our momentous weekend experiences…..

Photoblog:

Flying the flag for retired greyhounds – I hope we succeeded in raising the profile of these wonderful hounds….

Approaching the lock – there was a very mixed bunch of boats in there – we were arranged to suit the tide rather than the Queen today!

Seeing this line of narrowboats really gives you an idea of the vast size of West India Dock…

Rafted up and waiting the the lock – it’s hard to comprehend the size of this lock – it takes around 1.5 hours to turnaround….

Old boats and new buildings – most of the local residents loved seeing the dock full of boating colour – until we all made a racket blowing our horns – but it was only one miserable devil that complained 🙂

I love the juxtaposition of the cables in this photo – the cable car is such a dramatic addition to the riverscape…

RUN!!! The onlookers were very very reluctant to leave the bridge – a CRT man had to chase the stragglers off!

There she goes…

Almost there….

And we’re off….

We were a much reduced convoy today but it was still a great sight…

I love the sight of the lifted bridge behind us – it’s so black against the surrounding landscape it reminds me of the monolith from 2001: a space odyssey

Narrowboat rebellion!
Our convoy creeping down the wrong side of the river – with permission, of course!

Tall ship on its way home…

The floating belfry – it looked rather forlorn after yesterday’s fanfare….

Local colour at Bow Creek Mouth…..

Sentinels of a different sort….

Why I love Bow Creek – where else will you see so much reclamation – of derelict materials in the scrapyard and of derelict land in the nature reserve…

Dog Blog: Tarsna Poppy 13/8/2001 – 20/6/2012

Wednesday 20th June

These photos were taken 10 days before Poppy died – the weather was sunny, we were all in the garden and she was so so happy…

I am devastated to report that we had to put Poppy to sleep at 4.30am on Wednesday after a brief  but horrible illness over the weekend. Regular readers will know that Poppy suffered a stroke at Easter and had recovered remarkably well; however we knew she was on borrowed time – her brain and kidneys were in poor condition after the privations she’d endured with her previous owners.

At 1am on Sunday we were woken by a huge hound commotion – Poppy was having a severe seizure; she recovered but then had another at 6am and had to be admitted to the vets for treatment. They managed to control the seizures and asked us to take her home for observation on Monday as they weren’t sure to what extent she had recovered. We soon worked out that she had lost part of her vision, was walking erratically and had some other neurological oddities, though she was still enjoying her food and the comfort of her favourite bed. She did rally on Tuesday and was looking happy and much brighter, we were hopeful that we’d be able to control her seizures until we could see her wonderful neurologist. But at 3am on Wednesday, Poppy started having a sequence of partial seizures affecting her face and neck, these were recurring every few minutes, so we took her to our excellent local vet. After a thorough discussion we decided that there was just too much harm happening to her brain.

So we made the decision to have her put to sleep at 430am, she had a merciful and peaceful end, there was this time as the drugs hit that she looked totally at peace then she quietly went to sleep….

Our reasons for giving a home to rescue dogs are complex and owe more to instinct than logic. However one big thing for us is to be able to shout “THIS LIFE MATTERED” – and maybe that’s more true of Poppy than for any of our previous rescues. Poppy was a neglected hound – the kind people who rescued her say that her previous owners were not bad people, they “just didn’t get it”. But the fact that her poor health was caused by their ignorance rather than malice doesn’t make the harm any less.

Poppy had the most engaging grin – I do miss her smiley little face. The bare patches in her fur are from where she had a heart/kidney scan 6 weeks ago.

Poppy was born in Ireland on 13th August 2001, where she started her racing career in 2003; later that year she move to the  track at Harlow in Essex and then to Mildenhall in Suffolk. She ran over 100 races, though her results were such a mixed bag that I can’t work out whether she was good or not! She ran at Mildenhall at the same time as Lou. Although they don’t seem to have raced against each other, they both ran their last races in the meeting held there on 19th June 2006.

Now what happened next is not our story to tell – Poppy was rehomed by Greyhoundhomer and at some point she was joined by Ollie. Something went wrong along the way, and in January 2012, Poppy and Ollie were rescued by Greyhound Homer – they were both dehydrated, unkempt and had severe dental problems; Poppy was also severely underweight. They were rescued by the good folk at Dillymore kennels and spent the next 6 weeks in recovery – they needed intensive feeding, flea treatment and general care. All but two of Poppy’s teeth had to be removed and Ollie had around half of his teeth removed. After this period of intensive care by the dedicated team at Dillymore kennels, they were well enough to move into a foster home for some extra TLC.

We were still suffering from the pain of Lynx’s death at this stage, but we’re such suckers for a sob story 🙂

When we heard about Poppy and Ollie’s plight we offered to foster one of them, not realising at the time that they were a bonded pair. When we found out they were a pair we said “yes” anyway! The kennels were full to the brim, so our offer of a foster place was gratefully received – Poppy and Ollie moved in with us on the 4th March 2012.

Poppy and Ty having a rummage – they spent a lot of time together – Ty likes bossy women!!

When we took Poppy and Ollie on, we knew that there was work to be done to improve their physical health. Their rescuers said that when Poppy came to them they could see by her eyes that she was “waiting to die”. So, given their troubled history, we expected some behavioural problems as well. But from the moment they moved in and found their beds they were home! Neither had lost their spirit and Poppy had the most amazing zest for life.

Lou was NOT impressed to find another top girl in the house but they soon settled; Ty likes bossy women so he immediately became Poppy’s new best friend. Ollie is an amiable sort, so after an initial boys rumble with Ty, he settled into a quiet life!

We had hoped to make fostering work – the plan was to get Poppy and Ollie to good condition then put them up for rehoming – honest! But when Poppy had her stroke at Easter we knew that she’d be staying – her health was just too fragile for her to be rehomed and, of course, we’d totally fallen in love with her by then 🙂

Poppy was a very special hound – I’d have to use a thesaurus to find enough words to describe how joyful she was and how much she relished her life with us. Poppy lived with us for just 15 weeks, but what an impact she made. Her blog says it all – Sarah (aka Greygal) says these posts captured Poppy’s voice perfectly:

https://indigodream.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/dog-blog-poppy-puppys-perfectly-personal-page-private/

https://indigodream.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/dog-blog-poppy-puppys-perfectly-personal-page-private-2/

https://indigodream.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/dog-blog-poppy-puppys-perfectly-personal-page-private-3/

https://indigodream.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/dog-blog-poppy-puppys-perfectly-personal-page-private-4/

I agonised over whether to let Poppy write a blog – knowing her remaining time might be short I didn’t want to suffer the grief that I felt when we lost Lynx and his voice. But I’m glad that I did – her posts will be a lovely reminder of her bubbly personality – best expressed in her words 🙂

The girls love their food…

I won’t pretend that it has been easy to take on two needy oldies BUT it has been such a fulfilling experience – the hard work and emotional roller-coaster of their care has been generously rewarded by Poppy and Ollie’s gratitude, love and joie de vivre. Would I do it again? Yes! But not for a while – we need to recover from our grief and deal with the intensity of looking after Lou and her cancer (not forgetting Ty and Ollie’s more day-to-day care!).

Although Ty, heartbreakingly, searched for Poppy in the garden yesterday, Ollie, her long-time companion, does not seem to be pining for her but he did get to see her in the vets after the blue filled syringes had been emptied. Although Poppy and Ollie remained close, they had become more independent of each other once they were in a secure home. Ollie joined the upstairs pack some weeks ago and has settled into a routine of sleeping and….nope, that’s about it, he just likes to sleep! He will, of course, be staying with us for the rest of his days…

Poppy’s favourite occupation was eating – I hope that she’s at the rainbow bridge with Blue and Lynx, scoffing from some divine eternally refilling bowl of hot chikkin! Rest easy sweet girl…

Spot the chewie…

Ah, there it is….

Poppy in action!

Taking turns….

Patience…

Patience rewarded 🙂

Watch me…

Watch the chewie…

Sorry hounds, the chewies are all gone….

Poppy looking at the kitchen door – could there be more food???

Ollie is far too dignified (lazy :-)) to beg for food – better be quick though Ollie – Poppy’s on the prowl!

Did I mention that Lou is Miss July in the 2013 Greyhound homer calendar? Fifth year running – what a supermodel!

Busy busy – Poppy the day before she died….

A last photo. Run free sweet Poppy, run free…

Photoblog: Queens Diamond Jubilee – View from the deck (3)

Wednesday 13th June

This collection of photos covers our cruise from Albert Bridge to Tower Bridge, where our camera battery died of hypothermia! Check out Herbie’s blog for a photo of the queen as we passed close by.

There are many more photos of the whole jubilee in my facebook albums –

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4213407900391.2178076.1440854080&type=1&aft=4213639466180&l=fbf4df5e44

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4223030540951.2178270.1440854080&type=1&l=fcf297d183

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4223178024638.2178274.1440854080&type=3&l=b8a787ef4c

Here we are at the official starting point – the Queen’s barge has long since moved downstream at the head of the pageant – I’m glad we caught up with her later 🙂

It was so nice that people had stayed on after the queen’s departure in order to wave the rest of the flotilla away…

Friends have told us that the crowds were 20 deep along the shore – I wonder if they co-ordinated their umbrellas to make a tent? 🙂

Passing under Chelsea Bridge- how the crowds cheered – but don’t worry, we don’t expect this adulation every time we cruise…..

The line looking good as we passed the iconic Battersea Power Station..

Crowds….

And more crowds!
By this stage we were envying the wine glasses being enthusiastically waved from the party boats and balconies – a “wee dram” would have warmed us nicely but strictly no alcohol for the jubilee crews!

The formation still in good order behind us…

Bit damp – it was now 4.30pm according to the big clock!

Every pod was packed with spectators – what a glorious view they must have had from the top…

The flags and flotilla are still cruising proudly – despite the rain!

We were childishly excited to see the bascules open – our line in the column was meant to go under the left hand arch, but the whole convoy rebelliously squashed through the central arch – well, it just had to be done – I doubt whether we’ll get another opportunity to cruise under the open bascules in a narrowboat 🙂
But that’s the last photo – at this point our slightly saturated camera battery died – just before we passed the queen – “that’s life” as they say 🙂

Photoblog: Queens Diamond Jubilee Pageant – View from the shore (3)

Thursday 14th June

These brilliant photos, from Richard’s friend John Jones, explain why formation narrowboating should become a new sport – maybe for the next London Olympics!

The leading line – sadly missing nb Madam who had to pull out earlier because of engine failure..

Isn’t that a wonderful sight – the formation at its best…

Can’t resist another one – wonderful memories – I hope we get to do formation narrowboating again…

Photoblog: Queens Diamond Jubilee Pageant – View from the deck (2)

Monday 11th June

Now we’ve finally reached the photos taken from deck during the pageant proper – these cover the cruise downstream from Chiswick to the official start at Albert Bridge.

BUT if you want to see more photos of our trip from Limehouse to West India then check the album on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4203619295682.2177880.1440854080&type=1&l=261e3f3566

Richard and the special jubilee flag – given to each boat at the very last minute when they passed the final inspection that would allow them to join the pageant…

Breaking up the raft – the “go” command meant “GO”…

The raft breaking up behind us – it takes time to shuffle that many narrowboats into their formation but I thought everybody followed their instructions so we left the moorings punctually and in good order…

This photo has it all – the waving crowds. the young bugler and, in the background, one of the many giant screens showing the action at Albert Bridge – the official starting point…

Looking back as we get into formation…

Balconies lining the route were full of jolly spectators – as well they should be – they had a great view, a place to shelter and easy access to loos!

The rooftops were lined with revellers…

That’s a handsome line – Fulbourne, Tarporley and President….(left to right). This is at Barn Elms Reach – see the unoccupied mooring buoys – everyone’s gone ahead!

The little boat was a pageant trespasser – they were soon shuffled off the river by the RNLI and Police ribs…

We thought there were crowds on the riverside here but this was nothing compared to what was to come…

Look, no waterproofs! At this stage we were smiling because we (mistakenly) thought that the sky was brightening up……

Homer (aka crew ‘man’ Margaret) waving to the crowds…

Big Homer’s best minder…with little Homer, our jubilee mascot…

When you’re wearing Homer’s head you can only see your own feet, which is not good for your balance on the restless river – so Homer’s minders had to keep a hold of his lifejacket at all times!

Every moored boat on the river seemed to have a party on board – we got a great reception from each one…

Now there’s a tidy line of narrowboats…

Now the crowds are getting bigger – but we’re still a fair way upriver of the official starting point at Albert Bridge…

The bunting shows how breezy it was, but the river was so calm without the additional force of the tide..

Approaching the starting line – Battersea Bridge was one of the official viewing areas – spectators were carefully vetted before being allowed onto the bridge…

Still smiling and still no waterproofs – Kath had the important job of minding the throttle while Richard minded the tiller – it was a good arrangement for keeping our place in the line…

Is THAT a crowd? Almost….

I wasn’t the only one wearing a furry costume – we got such a welcome from the partying boats along the way…

Now THAT’s a crowd – Battersea Park – we’re finally at the ‘official’ start of the pageant (and the official start of the rain!)….

Photoblog: View from the deck (1)

Monday 11th June

We are still trying to take in the whole jubilee experience – the more we talk about it the more fantastic is seems!

I’ve even reconciled myself to the rain – given the weather that we’ve had since, I’m quite glad that we had such a nice day for the pageant 🙂

My unusually succinct summary of the day is “WWW” – “Wow Wow Wow” and “Wet Wet Wet”!

Photoblog:

Getting into position: close-up of the floating belfry – I would have loved to seen them in action…

Reporters will talk about the jolly view of the river depicted by Canaletto (http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/canaletto/the-river-thames-with-st-paul-s-cathedral-on-lord-mayor-s-day#supersized-artistPaintings-250550) but I like this more ‘industrial’ scene…

The Queen’s barge was a colourful glow in the gloom!

Getting into position: This was my favourite part of the day – moving through the melee of boats from Barn Elms reach to Chiswick – it was our only chance of seeing the variety of boats that would be taking part in the pageant.

So nice to see the crowds on the foreshore – it’s not a sight we normally get to enjoy – at this state we’d normally be chasing to tide to Limehouse or Teddington…there’s something very nice about cruising with the barrier closed!

Getting into position: turning ours noses downstream before the mid-river rafting manoeuvre…

Perfectly rafted up – the breeze that blew the bunting didn’t seem to bother the boats….

Photoblog: View from the shore (2)

Thursday 7th June

We have had a great response to our request for photos from the shore – keep them coming – it is such a thrill to relive the event through these images – I’m more excited now than I was on the day – mind you, I am sitting now in my comfy armchair, toastingly dry and enjoying a large mug of tea 🙂

We’ll publish them as and when we get them, but here are a few more that we’re posting for posterity!

Brilliant photos here: http://www.simontregidgo.com/p379791066#h2b042d0a

Simon Tregidgo, a friend of the Herbie’s left a link to his gallery in a comment on the last post, there is one on the left – his photos are so atmospheric, they are brilliant!

We’ve also been searching for images on Flickr – there are thousands, as you can imagine, but only a select few of the narrowboats, so we’ve included a few links to the relevant images below (we’ll add more in later posts):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelsmith/7336334290/in/set-72157630045551912/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80035434@N06/7336489236/lightbox/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikepaws/7329769600/lightbox/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/my_soul_insurance2004/7330701062/lightbox/

I have put some links inside the photo captions to galleries which I don’t are clickable so here are clickable versions:

Simon Tredigo photos are here

Harald Joergens photos (there are loads as I think he set out to catch every boat) are here

Both are worth a click!

View from Hammersmith – before the rain started in earnest – the friend who took these photos got frozen while waiting for us – I’m glad that she did though – they’re fab photos!

View from Hammersmith Bridge…

I think this is a view from a professional photographer friend of Steve’s – Harald Joergense who was on Battersea Bridge, have a look here: http://www.haraldjoergens.com/2012-thames-diamond-jubilee-pageant/index_31.php for a wonderful collection of pageant photos. That’s Margaret looking very svelte in the Homer suit – she spelled me for over an hour – my waving arms were grateful for the rest!

Photos from Denise and Colin – I work with Denise – she’s a fellow boating enthusiast!

Another great photo from Colin and Denise..

This was sent in by Carol (who left a comment a few days ago) – taken from a relatively sheltered spot under Blackfriars Bridge. Don’t we look cheerful – by this stage we couldn’t have been any wetter if we’d jumped into the river 🙂

Another photo from Carol, taken from under Blackfriars Bridge – this is my favourite so far – look at us all waving like lunatics – it was the least we could do for the cheering crowds that had stayed out in the rain to greet us….

Photoblog: View from the shore (1)

Tuesday 5th June

We have spent most of the day doing absolutely nothing! The build up to the jubilee, and the extraordinary day itself, has been exhausting. We are starting to accumulate photos from the shore (and downloading our own photos) – we hope that there are many more to come! We certainly heard people shouting the boat’s name and Richard’s name but we couldn’t make out individuals in the sea of faces lining the banks and bridges. We appreciated the support from the banks – we HAD to go through to the end, no matter how cold and wet, but the spectators could have gone to a warm dry pub, and they chose not to 🙂

There is about 60 seconds of narrowboating action (including Indigo Dream for the sharp-eyed) on the BBC highlights programme – there’s a link here – fast-forward to minute 46!

These photos are from a a friend of Richard’s, John Jones, who published them on Facebook – he obviously had a great view from his office at Clarksons

If you do have any photos of Indigo Dream taken from the shore then please let us know – they’re great for us, obviously, but ones featuring “Homer” may be useful to the Retired Greyhound Trust publicity people (with the photographer’s permission, of course)

Indigo Dream in all her finery – now you can see the front deck crew – me in the Homer suit, Sarah from nb Greyhound together with Steve and Margaret from nb North Star.

The back deck crew – Richard at the helm, Neil and Kath from nb Herbie, Andy from nb Greyhound and cousin Wyn from Wales!!

Look Kath (nb Bobcat) we are (almost) in line here!

and off we go!

Boat Blog: After the party…

Monday 4th June

We have been overwhelmed by the support and buy the kind comments that we’ve received – thank you all – it was an incredible day though I find that my mind is fogged with fatigue and I don’t remember much after leaving the mustering point at the start of the pageant!

I’m sure the memories will come flooding back – especially when we’ve downloaded the hundreds of photos (and gathered photos from our companion boats).

We’re currently moored up in West India Dock – we’re due to lock out at 11.30am and we’re going back to Limehouse via Bow Locks (makes a nice change).

The local Sea Scouts in West India have been wonderful – they’ve been so helpful with moorings, rubbish disposal and the other unglamorous jobs which have made our stay more comfortable.

Just being part of the pageant was enough for us, but we have been watching out for any media coverage – we’re not interested in the publicity for ourselves, but we are hoping that the Retired Greyhound Trust has had some benefit from the event. For anyone who’s interested though, Sky did catch us  on the way to the mustering point in the morning and we got a look in on the BBC “highlights” programme last night – if you’re watching on i-player it’s around minute 47!

Most of the crew left us last night; Sarah and Andy headed off this morning so we’re now enjoying a bit of peace and quiet, while trying to dry out various soggy items of clothing – the Homer suit is going to take some time to dry out!

As I type, we’ve just had a severe weather earning (gale force 9) for the Thames area, though it’s a lovely morning at the moment. The sooner we get back to Limehouse the better. 🙂